Combining the best of space combat and real time strategy. Victory can be tactical, a dogfight or capital ship slugging match - depending on how you decide to achieve it. Space combat on a RTS scale with space sim savagery.

February 16

First I want to say that - Void Destroyer - being an indie project, relies on its player base for far more than just money. I want to thank you for your support, patience and feedback. Together we've made Void Destroyer a better game!

Void Destroyer's launch went so well - that I decided to quit my day job. Thanks to you I am now a full time game developer - this is something I dreamed about during the years of Void Destroyer's development. And now its here! When I look back and reflect - I am left speechless, so lets leave it at that.

Here's a short list of issues/items:

23 suggestions and requests added/changed.

7 difficulty tweaks/changes/additions/improvements.

10 crash bugs fixed.

11 non-crash bugs fixed.

Pretty Mode:

Most of all I want to highlight "pretty mode" - during Void Destroyer's development, many players asked for the option for "tactical mode to look like ship mode." I've kept this in the back of my mind for a few reasons, now that the game has been released it was a good time to look into this and (although there were many challenges) it went better than expected :)

On screen messages (eg: ship build/destroyed) now show faction colors.

Tiny tweaks to dialog to better inform player of possibility of resource sharing.

Added toggle "all turrets auto control" and "all turrets player control" by player request. Player didn't want to press F5 repeatedly when in F5 mode to shut off player controlled turrets - instead have it as one button. Default / key.

Re-enabled - "turret target only" in command mode. Splits up ship targeting and turret targeting. SHIFT + T by default. This is for players that want ship crew to pilot, but want to do targeting and firing by themselves - without it impacting ship orders.

Command ship abilities - using them when outside of the command ship (support/additions - based on player feedback).

In during move command - moving mouse to the edges of the screen will move the camera like in "mouse GUI" mode.

Can now toggle on/off the "auto mouse move helper" - now default off. Hold down the CTRL key to toggle on.

Oversight - pressing M key (to initiate move command) now works just like right clicking on empty space (first marker is at mouse's position).

Guard command.

Mouse "GUI" toggle - hold down CAPSLOCK key (by default) (CTRL key is a modifier and thus problematic when you take your finger off of it - it doesn't exist any more to be tested against - long story) to be able to click GUI elements while in ship mode, when released mouse flight control (or look if in turret/command modes) will be re-enabled.

Toggle all turrets primary/auto added to cockpit/chase modes.

Select all ships of a particular class - go to the "fleet" GUI, double click on the ship class buttons to select.

"Tactical mode that looks like ship mode" - can be set as default in Options - Game play - then check the "pretty mode" check box.

New "tactical mode that looks like ship mode" - added toggle to "highlight" (changes the outline color) to faction colors to help recognize which ship is on which side. Default key - CAPSLOCK - might tweak the effect to be less ugly.

Camera improvements- can now zoom in out while the camera is changing focus. It feels a bit jarring... but hey the camera feels less static, and its optional.

Camera work - when "attached" camera zoom will be slower/faster depending on distance to attached object (command mode and orbit/attached in tac mode).

SPROG fire mode not working properly in military parade formation (WIP).

"New leader" button in formation GUI - old leader would leave formation instead of joining as follower - messing with formations is scary because its formations which are a bit source of crash bugs (but this seems pretty safe).

Part of mission sending some ships away didn't take them out of unit cap.

Gravity drive position offsets (resulted in ships oddly jumping to far off spots).

January 20

Over a year ago Void Destroyer launched on Early Access, now I feel it is ready to officially launch. To kick things off I created two new trailers, they are on the store page, but I'll link them here as well:

I hope you enjoy watching the trailers as much as I enjoyed making them (playing the game).

Void Destroyer is a unique project, there's simply not many (any?) games like it out there. This makes it a challenging game to sell - in an already challenging and competitive environment. It takes a bit of time to understand all the possibilities that it offers to the player and the two genres. So if you are part of gaming communities or know someone who might be interested in the game, please let them know about it (for example: chose the trailer you like the most and pass it on).

At launch I'll be focused mostly on release issues - hopefully this will be a short list. After that I plan on putting in some features and tweaks that I've been saving - so that they don't delay the launch. And after that I'll investigate and pursue longer term plans, I'll keep you guys informed.

I feel the need to express some gushy stuff, so if you start rolling your eyes, feel free to safely skip reading the rest.

It's been an incredible journey, and whatever happens - this is a realization of a dream.

I want to thank Kickstarter backers for the funding that they generously trusted me with. Without you I don't know if launching on Early Access in the first place would have been possible.

I want to thank Early Access players, also for trusting me. Without you I wouldn't have been able to accelerate development. Without you I wouldn't have solved a incredible amount of issues and add things that I've overlooked. Without you I wouldn't get valuable feedback on the game to make it a better experience.

I also want to thank future players - I hope that you have a lot of fun playing the game and we have a lot of fun together discussing and improving the game. If you experience an issue - please feel free to contact me, either on the forums, friending me on Steam or through email - paul [at] void destroyer [dot] com

There's a lot more to be thankful to - Steam, the incredible game development communities, the artists musicians and devs who helped me get here. The incredible times we live in where knowledge and tools are so shared, friends and family. People tend to say that this is a one man project - but that is only the case you ignore hundreds.

About This Game

Combining the best of space combat and real time strategy. Victory can be tactical, a dogfight or capital ship slugging match - depending on how you decide to achieve it.

A desolate asteroid field on the edge of the solar system erupts in war. Your forces rely on you to take the battle to the enemy. Build up defenses and fleets, repair and upgrade your command ship, lead your forces to reclaim and conquer territory.

Game play:

The seat of a fighter, the bridge of a cruiser and a tactical battle map are your tools of war. Void Destroyer puts you in command and gives you ultimate freedom over the your forces and the art of war.

If you ever wanted to directly control your forces in a real time strategy game or be able to build ships and command to your wing-men and fleets in a space combat simulator like you can in a RTS - this is the game for you. Void Destroyer combines elements from space combat simulators and real time strategy games. No longer are you limited on how to control and command. Battles are waged on your terms, you are given the tools. How you use them is up to you.

Jump into a fighter to engage in dogfights, then switch into a frigate to take out an enemy corvette. Build defensive platforms to augment the security of your base. Issue commands to your attack ships to distract enemy defenders to allow your marine frigates to board an enemy's base. Defend and oversee asteroid mining craft to have the resources necessary to support your fleets.

By combining elements of two genres, enemies can be more brutal, fights can be larger and you can overcome greater challenges.

Think there's not enough time? Use time dilation (slow down time) to make time for tactics.

Features:

A mixture of space combat and real time strategy games - two games in one, how you play is up to you

A story line, opportunities, plot twists, boss fights, and many surprises

Pilot ships - from small drones to heavy cruisers

Instant ship switching - all ships are pilot-able

Multitude of weapon systems in the hands of both friends and foes

Tactical Mode - easily issue orders and manage your forces

Build platforms

Build ships

Research new technology

Upgrade your command ship

Combine the use of command ship abilities for devastating tactics, use a tractor beam to pull an enemy closer then annihilate it an upgraded main gun

Asteroid mining

Flight engine combines six degree of freedom with Newtonian physics balanced to allow for dogfights

Pilot via joystick or mouse (mouse flight - includes two different modes)

Battle Editor - create your own maps, unlimited game play on your own terms

Unlock system - as you research new ships and defeat enemy ships, they become available for use in the battle editor

Formations - pre-defined and custom

Community input valued by a responsive developer

In game guide/manual and tutorial system

Difficulty options - make the game more forgiving to get through a tough spot if you so chose

Void Destroyer is a "labor of love" a project that I can't envision not working on. I will continue adding new features and content to the game even post the "official release." And hope to create a lasting impression on gaming history.

System Requirements

Minimum:

OS: Windows XP

Processor: Intel Core i3 or equivalent

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Graphics: GeForce 9800 or later

DirectX: Version 9.0c

Hard Drive: 500 MB available space

Additional Notes: Works with most Intel graphics cards, but not recommended. DRM free.

Homeworld with Freelancer style flight controls for jumping in one of your ships and getting into the fight.Borderlands-esque graphical style. Brutally hard and expects you to learn its rules fast and keeps throwing new challenges throughout the campaign. Mission 1? Angry limped drones. Mission 2? Giang drill ship that chases you through a massive space melee. Mission 3? Minefields. And so on. But to its credit it's fun enough that I keep beating my head against whatever brick wall the game has thrown at me this time until I learn to climb or dig.

Biggest thing I can say in support of this game is the developer has been releasing patches almost daily since launch. DAILY. This game isn't a job or a hobby, it's an obsession. Never seen post-launch support like it.

Awesome game, love it. But be warned, it can be difficult. Learning curve is slightly steep as well as there are a lot of functions and systems. Often times, all the cool stuff mentioned in the trailer and description is happening all at once. It can get hectic.

Plus, the developer ace. He is a regular in the forums, and promotes bug squashing and modding ideas with game keys. Certainly behavior worth supporting.

This game is pure awsome!I must say though it has its bugs. First off joystick control is a bit crap and it is pretty hard to play if you are a noobBut when all is said and done this game has real potential and i really want mods to be created for it.

Game is decent, There are definetly aspects I don't like, but at the same time, its is definetly interesting, and I liked the game, and it is definetly challenging at times. I would like to see more of a base building element, but that personal preferance. The storyline is cool, Very Homeworld feeling. All in all, I think the Developer has some great ideas, but execution could use some work.

For the short time i have played Void Destroyer it has been a fun experience while i must say that the learning curve is a bit steep at first but once you get the hang of it you have the feeling that you have accomplished something and the game brings out it's true colours. Also i got to say for a game made by one man it was a great feat not to mention the developer listens to what the playerbase has to say. So all up it is a great game that i recomend to people which don't mind a bit of a challange.

This game is COMPLEX. If you can't handle complexity, especially complexity of controls, skip this game and don't buy it and write reviews like "This game is too complex / I can't learn all the controls."

The game is complex for a GOOD REASON. Beside the fact that there are TWO game modes strapped into this one game, namely RTS and space sim mode, there are MANY ways to control your ships in space sim mode.

And it all makes sense too! After all, there are different types of ships: single-purpose fighter drones that you point and click (game lets you play point and click), and larger or capital ships that require separate movement, turret, and main weapon control (game lets you play this way too!)

Combined with the ability to queue multiple commands, including waiting, rotating etc., allowing you to do complex formations, and with a time dilation (time slow down) feature to get it all in, what you can basically do is issue all your commands via RTS mode, then jump in and make a difference by controlling whichever ship you want!

Switching between RTS and ship mode is seamless, and switching between ships is good as well (it even automatically slows time during switching between ships so that you won't be missing out!!)

Excellent concept, two game modes marvellously put together into one game with good execution.

CONS:

Complex amount of game controls. You have to play the keyboard a little like a piano, with multiple ship control modes and commands in ship mode. That said, don't buy this game if you are averse to all that, and are simply going to write a bad review saying "This game's controls are pretty complex." YOU WERE WARNED.

Graphics are not fantastic , ship movement seems awkward. Flight model physics are the envy of Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen player: no compromises.Idea is brilliant and nicely implemented by a one man team , specially because mixing piloting a ship and real time strategy ended in failure for many big companies. This game offers lots of depth , some may say it's too difficult for the current times. A big point is that the developer is very active and (successfully) tries really hard to answer all the questions. Also he is working in a significant change after reviewers and gamers pointed out they wanted to have a tactical display with the looks of the piloting screen. This game seems to be a hidden jewel. I hope it gets its deserved recognition

Woke up screaming because of terrifying flashbacks of Death & Destruction of my fleet as the enemy cornered my remaining ships and ate them... ate them all.... The nightmare ended with a giant defeat sign and the drifting of debris from the capital ship.

Rating: 8.5-Good level design-Interesting Mechanics-Slightly annoying fleet grouping (I am more paitient than most too)-MASSIVE difficulty spikes-The Ability to command everything you own except structures. *Taking a drone, and flinging it across the map at the highest speed possible, which is none, only to having it ping off an enemy capital ship, in front of the enemy fleet, and get obliterated by Lucifer's fury, is entirely too hilarious.*-Slightly hurt by the need to replay past levels to complete future ones.-Cool ship designs. -Great developer support.

Since then the developer constantly updated the game while listening to feedback and staying in close contact to the community. All games in EA should be developed like this game did.

Now that it is finished this game is one of my favorite games.

+ low price+ lots of awesome ships from drones to cruisers and carriers+ everything can be player controlled+ partly newtonian physics (if you want to slow down point your engines in the other direction or use forward trusters)+ lots of control modes for ships (just take one turret and let the crew do everything else, control everything, fly and let the crew shoot...)+ great rts part + easy to use editor and instant action missions+ encouraging unlock system for everything to use in the editor- takes some time to learn the controls (not a problem if you don´t expect to master the controls after 30 minutes)- very challenging in the later story missions....+ .... which are awesome if you don´t give up immediately

If you like space games you should absolutely buy this game... if there is going to be a sequel, it´s already on my personal wishlist.

It's been a while that I was as frustrated with a game as I am with Void Destroyer.The problem is that I really want to like the game, it has a lot of stuff that it's cool or fun.If it was simply a bad game I simply would uninstall it and forget I ever bought it. But there is so much potential and nice ideas in so it ends in a love-hate relation. That's why the frustration.

Void Destroyer is a RTS space combat game very similar to Homeworld so whoever played one of those will instantly feel familiar with it. The interesting part is that you can take direct control of any ship in your fleet and fly it yourself in 1st or 3rd person mode, blasting away at enemies like a space combat sim. At the same time you can use a tactical mode to manage your fleet and bases. You can research new stuff there, build ships or gun platforms, form fleets and have an overall view of the battlefield.

However that's where the problems start: The interface, while nice looking, has it's kinks. So you cannot, for example, select all ships of a type to form into groups. The only way to select several ships is by dragging a box or shift-clicking one ship after another. You also cannot remove ships from an already selected group (at least I haven't found out how). The fact that there is no tooltip for anything doesn't help finding out what all the clickable commands really do.Forming formations also is quite tedious as some ships simply ignore that order or they leave the formation at a latter time for no apparent reasons.All in all keeping all your stuff doing what you want them to do is like herding cats. It more or less works but it is way more exhausting that it should be.

My biggest gripe though is with the difficulty spike. Since your fleet is consistent from one mission to another and in several you are unable to re-build stuff you are forced to optimize earlier missions to be able to beat later ones. In addition many missions seem to have triggers for enemy reinforcements and if you trigger too many while being not ready no strategic genius will save you from doom. In addition in some missions the enemy bases are so close that the battle turns into a totally confusing free-for-all as you cannot move one step without drawing more enemies after you. Other missions where the enemy is not reinforcing infinitely are then in contrast rather easy and allow you to finish without losing anything.

Even while the Dev is trying very hard to be helpful in the forums and seems to constantly answer questions and improve the game this is a playstyle I simply can't stand for long. While there are tactics to deal with certain enemies the only strategy seems to build more stuff faster than your enemy and if you cannot build anything then you have destroy the enemy's capabilities to build faster than your fleet dies.Perhaps it's only me that has problems with that, perhaps I'm too stupid to play Void Destroyer, but this game is simply too much frustration for me.

Summary:While it has many neat features and looks interesting there are simply too many frustrating problems I have with Void Destroyer to be able to really recommend it. Which is sad, since the game really has potential and the dev is active and helpful. Perhaps it's only me that has such a hard time with the game but you better make sure which category of player you fall in before you buy it. I do not consider myself too casual a player and I have played strategy games since Dune II or Warcraft I but Void Destroyer gave me The Finger.

My first foray into the hybrid FPS/RTS was Battlezone, and I've not encountered anything that compares to the unique experience it provided - until I played Void Destroyer. The combat feels tight, the RTS gameplay rewarding, and everything in between just -feels- right. Bravo on a fantastic game, a truly worthy successor to my Battlezone experience!

A wonderful mish-mash of Battlezone and Homeworld. The UI can feel awkward, but that's more a symptom of the game being a hybrid of two genres that are typically fairly heavy on the controls, and generally the game does a good job of preventing this from becoming a serious inconvenience. The intial learning curve can seem a bit on the steep side, but this only hearkens back to the days of Homeworld, a game that was no pushover by any means. To the developer's credit, both aspects of Void Destroyer (I'll try my best to refrain from using the acronym), RTS and space sim, feel tight and function how you would expect them to, and there's satisfaction to be had in the immediate availability of a variety of vessels to pilot at your discretion, each with enough differentiation to make hopping between them more than worth the player's time. Also to the developer's credit has been his conduct on the Steam forums: always-courteous and informative responses, that are, very frequently, remarkably prompt; it's the kind of behaviour that should be help up as an example to any other developers and publishers that may wish to exhibit their wares on the Steam store, and to all those that currently do.

This game is incredible. When I first got this game, I though that the advertised feature, "the ability to switch from fighter to cruiser" was nothing but a gimmick, as I found most of my time in the tactical screen. But as I continued on, I found myself needing to constantly switch from ship to ship to successfully win battles, such as needing to switch to a fighter and lead a squadron to take out some mine launchers which are harmful to my larger ships. It's pretty cool. Not only that, this game also has a time dilation ability, which allows you to slow down time to quickly manage your fleet. That is also pretty cool because most RTS games lack some form of pause feature, which can be inconvinient against the AI since they can instantly manage their units. The only problems I have with this game is a lack of a fast forward system, and friendly AI does tend to ignore orders and go after other units

As other people have suggested this has a strong resemblence to Homeworld except you can pilot any ship in your fleet. The developer is also pretty damn fantastic, integrating some additional control options for me within a day and answering my questions on gameplay quickly and in a friendly manner. You can tell this game is a labour of love.

Be prepared to die a lot though :) and don't give up it takes a few hours to learn and get into. I can already tell i'm going to get a lot of enjoyment out of this one.

Don't wanna type much at the moment due to sinusitus so I'll be brief. If your a fan of the "Homeworld" series, this game is what you've been waiting for. A lot of work went into this and it shows. I haven't come even close to finishing it but I find myself thinking of tactics, turrets and lgoistics during time between sessions. Great game.